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I have been studying these seforim and noticed the text is marked with trope. However, since these seforim are not read publically, what is the proper cantillation? Like neviim?

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    I've heard people say the same as neviim and the same as Shir Hashirim/Rus/Koheles. Personally I use the second.
    – Heshy
    Jun 23, 2019 at 10:04
  • @Heshy that sentence may not make sense to non Ashkenazi communities that have different categories. IINM syrians have a different tune for Shir Hashirim from Rut
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 23, 2019 at 11:31
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    Presumably you would have the same question regarding Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles)?
    – Joel K
    Jun 23, 2019 at 11:38
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    @Joel also the beginning and end of Iyov
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 23, 2019 at 11:43
  • Here is Daniel with "3-Megillot" tune youtu.be/kdLDNz-srZQ?t=370
    – Double AA ♦
    Aug 7, 2023 at 19:02

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The Syrian Sephardic tradition reads the taamim of Daniel and Ezra/Nehemia (as well as Job 1-2, Ecclesiates, and Chronicles) in the same melody as Ruth. This is sung in a precious Middle-Eastern scale known as Hoseni, which, among other special occasions, is used by the Syrians for the Torah reading during Shavuot. You can hear a recording of this melody, sung by Hazzan Haim Daya, here.

As a side technical note, this might be a rather challenging melody for those unaccustomed to singing Middle-Eastern music, as Hoseni has contains two quarter-tones not found in Western music.

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  • Are any quarter-tones found in western scales ? I don't believe so, but I may be mistaken
    – Noach MiFrankfurt
    Jun 24, 2019 at 15:46
  • To be clear this is different from how Shir Hashirim is sung, correct? (A friend of mine has a theory that Ashkenazim use Shir Hashirim tune for Ruth and Kohelet only because they lost the general Ketuvim prose tune, not because that is Ruth and Kohelets native tune too.)
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 24, 2019 at 15:50
  • @NoachMiFrankfurt: no, there aren't any quarter tones in western scales. But some Middle-Eastern scales are identical to scales sung by Ashkenazic communities. Hijaz, for example, is identical to Ahava Rabba, popularly used in Hassidic niggunim (also termed Phrygian dominant).
    – Aryeh
    Jun 24, 2019 at 15:51
  • @DoubleAA: right, different from Shir Hashirim. The taamim are different, with a scale similar, but not identical, to Ruth.
    – Aryeh
    Jun 24, 2019 at 15:54

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